THE PINKEST HEART ★ DOCTOR WHO

★ ABOVE ★

"Some sort of base." The Doctor observed. "Moon base, sea bass, space bass. They build these things out like kits."

"Glad we're indoors. Sounds like a storm out there." Rose noticed.

The Doctor opened another door, the automatic voice announcing it once again. "Human design, you've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger and easier."

"Open door 17." The voice chimed as they stepped through another door. The room on the other side was large and circular, based of the tables and chairs it seemed to me more of a living area.

"Oh, it's a sanctuary base!" The Doctor realized. "Deep-space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that."

He paused, holding up a finger. A quiet humming noise was barely noticeable in the silence. "Underneath. Someone's drilling."

"What for?" Penny wondered.

"Who knows, could be a number of things, resources or exploratory or colonization." The Doctor listed off, head still tilted towards the floor.

"'Welcome to Hell.'" Rose spoke up, prompting surprised looks from the other two.

"Oh, it's not that bad."

"No, over there." Rose pointed out. Across the room the words were spray painted on the metal wall, beneath the English words was a series of symbols, completely indecipherable at least to Penny.

"Hold on." The Doctor ran up and crouched in front of the symbols. "What does that say?"

Upon closer inspection the symbols looked scratched out, sharp lines and sudden curves. "That's weird, it won't translate." The Doctor frowned.

"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything, writing as well." Rose crouched beside him. "I should see English."

"Exactly. If that's not work that means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old."

"But we're on a futuristic base." Penny pointed out. "Why would there be ancient writing on a relatively new base?"

"I don't know." The Doctor breathed out, before standing again. "We should find out who's in charge. We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move."

He began cranking open the next door, speaking to them one his shoulder. "And if someone's looking for-"

The door swung open, revealing a group of bald headed aliens. In the place of where their mouths would be was a cluster of tentacles, tinged pink against the pale white of their skin. In their hands they held a sealed sphere, a tube running from it to somewhere beyond the tentacles.

"Right, hello. Sorry." The Doctor awkwardly spoke. "I was just saying, nice place."

The orbs in their hands simultaneously lit up, in time with the voice which came from them. "We must feed."

"You gotta what?"

"We must feed."

"Yeah, I think they mean us." Rose tugged on the other two's arms.

"We must feed." They chanted, over and over. More of the creatures emerged from doors on the other side of the room, blocking the three from retreating further.

"We must feed..." The one closest to them spoke, before rattling his sphere, tapping it a few times as if it were a faulty TV. "...you. If you are hungry."

"...Sorry?" The Doctor cautiously asked, lowering his sonic which he'd raised defensively.

"Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems." The alien blinked at them. "Would you like some refreshment?"